Organ donation tally nears 2014’s record

Mumbai: The city's organ donation count this year is just one shy of 2014's record of 41, indicating that the programme has held on to its momentum.

On Friday, a family in Thane consented to donate the organs of their patriarch who was grievously injured in a road accident metres away from their house on Ghodbunder Road.

The 69-year-old man was hit by a biker as he crossed the road to meet his doctor. A relative said he was heading to the doctor's clinic across the road to get his blood pressure checked when the mishap took place. He was rushed to Jupiter Hospital, where doctors termed his condition as very critical. He was declared brain dead on Friday. The deceased's wife and daughter had already decided to donate his organs without the hospital having to inform or counsel them about cadaver donation. The donor's son-in-law said, "He and his wife were aware of organ donation and had even discussed in the past about registering to become donors. So when the doctors first told us about the possibility of such a noble cause, we willingly consented," he said, adding that they were willing to donate all organs, but only the liver, kidneys and eyes could be taken.

One of his kidneys were transplanted into a 31-year-old man from Mumbai Central who had been on dialysis for four years. The donor liver was transplanted into a 50-year-old man who too had been waiting for nearly two years. Jupiter Hospital in Thane got a kidney and a liver while another kidney was shared with Jaslok Hospital. Transplant coordinator Anirudha Kulkarni said, "The family was well-informed and forthcoming about the donation which in turn eased the hassles usually seen in medico-legal cases".

The Zonal Transplant Coordination Committee (ZTTC) said that with 40 donations this year, as many as 106 organs have been transplanted. It also includes three successful heart transplants, which were carried out after nearly five decades since it was first attempted in the city. "Public hospitals have also started putting their resources into the programme by creating posts of transplant coordinators," said a member of ZTCC. BYL Nair Hospital, a hospital run by the civic corporation, carried out its first donation over 90 years after the institutes's inception.

At the state-level too things have been moving steadily with centres from Pune and Nagpur beginning to identify brain dead patients.

Only in India the healthcare financing is very small when compared to the financing by the other forces rather than the patient himself or herself paying out of pocket. Having 70-75% of the expenses as out-of-pocket, in my opinion, is not a right approach to managing healthcare in a country where the patients tend to sub-optimally purchase healthcare if he/she has to pay out-of-pocket.